THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has slammed opposition leader V S Achuthandnan for preaching free software on the one hand and using a product of Microsoft for his own website. The Chief Minister said though Achuthanandan had repeatedly accused Microsoft of being a global monopolist, his website has been developed using asp.net , which is a product of Microsoft.
Mr. Chandy said there were two websites in his name; keralacm.gov.in which is a official website and the personal site oommenchandy.net whic has been launched after election code of conduct came into being. Both are open source servers’ hosted by Linux.
He added that he wished Achuthanandan could have used one of the free software for his website. The divide between his speech and action is growing, he added.
Each public worker should ensure that there is no gap between their speech and action. People of the state would like to know why Achuthanandan is promoting Microsoft, Mr. Chandy said.
He reminded Mr. Achuthanandan about his meeting with software freedom activist Richard Stallman 2006 when he was the Chief Minister. “As opposition leader I too met him. I am not against free software,” he said.
Mr. Chandy said Mr. Achuthanandan had inaugurated free software national convention in Kochi. But he severely criticised Kerala Technical University when they used Microsoft silver light free application for online paper evaluation in 2015. The Chief Minister, however, appreciated Achuthanandan’s belated use of personal website, Facebook and mobile application.
